Thursday, July 14, 2011

How heavy is my Sledge hammer?

Having grown up on a small farm on the then country outskirts of Melbourne, there was always a wide variety of tools around the farm to borrow if I needed something but not enough to buy my own when I moved out and into my own home. A sledge hammer was one such tool that I occasionally borrowed from home.
However upon our return from our many years overseas, I decided that I had enough need of a sledge hammer to warrant buying one of my own. So one day I went to the local hardware store and looked over what they had for sale. What I really wanted was a 10 pound one, but they only had 8 or 12 pound ones! Anyhow, after a lot of indecision and umming and hahhing, on my part, I finally decided to go for the heavier one.
A decision I often later lamented about, (and apparently often to my son too), as a 12 pound hammer gets quite heavy after a while! Don’t believe me? Ask my son! In fact I will pass onto you here, his very own comments on my sledgehammer. A little while back he had to help a friend build a dog proof pen in his yard, and so borrowed my “little" sledge hammer!
Here is his response to my inquiry if he would be around the following night for tea (Evening meal). “Won't be around tomorrow evening for dinner......or anything else. Helping **** build a fence for the dog and have only got about half way through so will be continuing that tomorrow. On the first picket I thought you were weak, complaining about your sledge hammer, but soon was agreeing with you, and then completely and utterly in agreeance after the 12th one.”
So the answer to my question of how heavy my sledgehammer is, depends on how much you use it. If not often, it isn’t heavy at all. But use it a lot and it soon becomes quite heavy.
Life is often like that isn’t it? Some things don’t seem too “heavy” at first, or if you don’t do them often, but then can become quite burdensome after continual usage, and often you just have to either pace yourself, or only do them in short bursts, so as not to wear yourself out.
So as I close now, what heavy "sledgehammers" do you have, that you either have to trade in for lighter ones, or else pace yourself for, in their usage? Over to you now for your thoughts.

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